Hard Times by Kaidi Tatham

First Word close out 2017 with the return of Kaidi Tatham, following up his 'Changing Times' EP for us, with another killer 4-tracker - this one entitled ‘Hard Times’.

To bring you up to speed, Kaidi is probably best known for his work with Bugz In The Attic. His body of work includes musical contributions for artists including Amy Winehouse, Slum Village, Mulatu Astatke, Soul II Soul, Leroy Burgess, Amp Fiddler, Macy Gray, King Britt, DJ Spinna, Mr Scruff and IG Culture.

Earlier this year, he was an integral part of DJ Jazzy Jeff’s incredible PLAYlist project, most notably releasing the album ‘Chasing Goosebumps’, also featuring Glenn Lewis, Stro Elliot, Masego, Daniel Crawford and a whole host more. Most recently he was part of Jeff and Will Smith’s (The Fresh Prince) reunion tour across Europe, and added releases to his already impressive catalogue on 2000 Black and Theo Parrish's Sound Signature, with regular compadre, Dego.

The EP kicks off with the title track ‘Hard Times’, a mid-tempo slice of infectious nu-funk. ‘I See What You See’ starts with Kaidi’s infamous rhodes licks, before dropping to some heads-down latin-tinged percussion and hefty basslines. We maintain the latin funk bruk boogie with the mighty ‘Super Lion’, and close out the set with a soaring synth and lush piano-led 105BPM groove called ‘We All Breathe The Same Air’. Each track exemplifies the articulate proficiency of Kaidi’s talents, and cement just why he’s so revered by so many.

The harder the times get, the more imperative our need to let off some sweat on the dancefloor.
Mr. Tatham will be on-hand to help, we guarantee you,

You can expect plenty more of this good stuff in 2018.
His last EP for us flew out with the quickness, so, as ever, consider this one a warning.
Ain’t no time for sleeping.

The Herbaliser, , dego & kaidi,tatham,mensah,lord & ranks etc, etc!